Wharton Professor Called Trump Dumbest Student

1. The claim and its provenance

The most-cited version of the line comes from Frank DiPrima, a close friend of the late Professor William T. Kelley, who said Kelley repeated “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had” many times over decades; that anecdote is the basis for pieces in Daily Kos, PhillyMag, Poets&Quants and other outlets ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Most modern references to Kelley’s alleged remark trace back to DiPrima’s recollection rather than to a contemporaneous written statement or published interview from Kelley himself ^{[1] [2]}.

2. How media amplified the anecdote

Profile and commentary outlets — including Poets&Quants, PhillyMag, Study International and listicles — repeated DiPrima’s quote when discussing Trump’s Wharton years and academic record, sometimes presenting it as emblematic of Trump’s performance or demeanor at school ^{[3] [2] [4]}. These outlets rely on the same primary witness (DiPrima), so the anecdote’s wide circulation reflects repeated sourcing of a single second‑hand account rather than independent verification ^{[3] [2]}.

3. Fact‑checking and alternative framings

A 2019 TruthOrFiction piece examined the line and noted it surfaced only after Kelley’s death and is based on DiPrima’s account; fact‑checkers have flagged the remark as anecdotal and not directly verifiable through Kelley’s own words ^[5]. Some reporting emphasizes Kelley’s alleged critique was about Trump’s arrogance and attitude — “came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything” — offering a behavioral interpretation rather than a strict intelligence judgment ^{[5] [2]}.

4. Contradictory uses of Kelley’s name

There is at least one instance where a post attributed the opposite compliment to Kelley — falsely suggesting Kelley called Trump “the smartest student I ever had” — and that false attribution was shared by Trump’s own social channels, prompting pushback in coverage that contrasted the real anecdote with the fabricated quote ^{[6] [7]}. Reporting therefore shows both the original DiPrima anecdote and later, demonstrably fake attributions using Kelley’s name ^[6].

5. What reporting says about Trump’s actual Wharton record

Separate reporting cited alongside the Kelley anecdote questions claims that Trump graduated at the very top of his class; for example, coverage notes Trump was not on the dean’s list his senior year and that the “first in his class” line has been disputed in historical reporting, which provides broader context for why critics invoke a professor’s scathing recollection ^{[8] [2]}. Those fact checks do not prove Kelley’s remark but do complicate the narrative Trump promoted about his academic standing ^[8].

6. Strengths and limits of the evidence

Strength: multiple reputable outlets reproduce DiPrima’s story consistently, establishing that the anecdote is a persistent part of public discourse about Trump’s student years ^{[3] [2] [1]}. Limitations: available sources show the quote rests on a single close friend’s memory after Kelley’s death, with no direct contemporaneous quote from Kelley and no archived classroom evaluations presented in reporting, so it cannot be independently corroborated beyond DiPrima’s testimony ^{[1] [5]}.

7. How to read this claim today

Treat the line as a widely reported second‑hand anecdote reflecting a friend’s repeated recollection of a late professor’s negative view, not as a confirmed direct quotation recorded from Kelley while alive; also note that the anecdote has been weaponized and misrepresented in both directions (used to criticize Trump and, inversely, falsely inverted to praise him), underscoring the need to check original sourcing before drawing firm conclusions ^{[1] [6]}.

If you want, I can assemble the original DiPrima text and the key fact‑check passages side‑by‑side so you can see exactly where each outlet sourced the quote and how later misattributions appeared ^{[1] [5] [6]}.